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Is your life being torn apart by a storm—either figuratively or literally? You’ll find encouragement through others’ stories in “An Anchor through the Storm” by Paul Dean and “When Your Child Is Sick” by Brenda Moore.

RBP and EBI are both contributing their strengths to provide such a curriculum for Spanish-speaking adults. EBI is now translating and contextualizing RBP’s Life Design curriculum. The result is a trustworthy curriculum line that has the potential for great influence.

In an age when words like Baptist and heritage are often treated with contempt, Pastor Jim Stultz of Peace River Baptist, Punta Gorda, Florida, decided to preach a sermon series on precisely that: Baptist heritage. Specifically, the heritage of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches.

The impact of Islam on the world could scarcely be overstated. Boasting more than a billion adherents, it is the planet’s second-largest religion, and one of the fastest-growing. But Islam’s relationship with Western cultures has been long and complicated. This article is offered as a brief introduction to Islamic history and theology.

Looking out across the religious landscape of 1969, Welsh preacher Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones proclaimed, “I would say without any hesitation that the most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching.”

Last fall Chris and Deb Hindal flew for 14 hours through 10 time zones to get to Asia, where they spent a month ministering in three countries with partners of GARBC International Ministries, of which Chris is director.

I sincerely believe there is such a thing as the evangelical social gospel. I disagree with the notion that a church must choose between living and proclaiming the Biblical gospel or addressing needs in culture.

The church of Jesus Christ is made up of different people who together make a pattern of Jesus. This key insight into God’s “big story” is exactly what burdened Faith Baptist Church, Hamilton, N.J., to plant a daughter church, Mosaic Baptist Church, in the inner city of New Jersey’s capital, Trenton.

We are witnessing the rise of a “get ’em” culture characterized by a mob mentality and a taste for retribution. Refusal to toe the line of political correctness leads to loud and intolerant public outcry calling for the silencing and punishment of the offending party.

Representatives from GARBC churches across the nation gathered in St. Petersburg, Fla., for the conference June 23–27. In his message John Greening called the attendees to self-assessment in order to realign themselves with “the essential gospel,” the theme for the week.

The media has made much of the changes in higher education. Foremost among the changes is the adoption of a different delivery system called distance education or online education. Many students may never go to a brick-and-mortar campus to receive their degrees. Rather, they study online. Last year a third of college students—about 6.7 million—took at least one online class.

Encouraging young people to be good stewards by developing careful spending habits and the practice of saving money may help them make wiser financial decisions as they learn to assume responsibility for their life choices.

The impact of the Bible college movement “has been felt in every part of the world, producing a large percentage of North American evangelical missionaries and serving as a primary educational enterprise for local church development,” says the Association for Biblical Higher Education. But what is the future for the Bible college movement?

Bible colleges are tasked with the responsibility of putting together the best program possible to train and equip God’s people for effective, Christ-honoring ministry. But it’s not always easy knowing exactly what to require in a Bible college curriculum.

The combination of unrealistic cost, suffocating debt, and diminishing outcomes has led to numerous calls for comprehensive reform, with many experts offering dire predictions about higher education being the next bubble expected to burst. One silver lining that these problems have created is innovation with real potential to simultaneously cut tuition, reduce student debt, and improve learning and outcomes.

The Bible college offers Christian students one of the best alternatives to plunging headlong into a secular academic environment. Concentrated Biblical study buttressed by classes in apologetics, evangelism, church history, Christian ethics, and even Biblical languages equips students well to confidently survive a secular university environment.

About 36 years after my start in pastoral ministry, while I still know I have room to improve as a preacher, I’ve had time to learn and grow in what remains for me a challenging pastoral task. Here are nine of the leading lessons I’ve picked up along the way.

“Despite 14 years of devastating civil war, the independent Baptist churches in Liberia continue to preach, pray, and plug away,” says Chris Hindal, director of GARBC International Ministries. They deserve our prayers and encouragement.”
Chris and his wife, Deb, saw these ministries firsthand during a 12-day trip in Liberia.

The cell phone rings as Kiyle and Anissa Decker return home to Grace Baptist Church, Eureka, Calif., from a California Association of Regular Baptist Churches retreat in Cambria. A county official asks if the family would take in two foster kids, both girls, a baby and a 5-year-old. “Yes, we’ll take them!” answers Anissa with no hesitation.

Rod Decker was strong enough to finish two books and send them to the printer last winter—strong enough to write the introductions, strong enough to sign them the way he signed the others: Soli Deo Gloria.

I would be lying if I said the arrival of cancer into our lives had no impact. The news pulled the rug out from under us for a while—especially after two years when we thought the cancer had been treated. Its return at stage 4 was a shock, to put it mildly.

“Only a mile and a half away from our house is an entirely different feel to our community,” says church planter Derek Phillips. “When we began assisting in ESL [English as a Second Language] ministry, it took our understanding of our community another step further.”

Michael Nolan, director of Baptist Builders Club, has good news for six churches. While the churches had received financial aid from Baptist Builders Club in the past, their subsequent progress encouraged the board to grant or loan them additional money.

For years my friend and my church’s ministry partner H. C. Stephen has asked me to visit him in Manipur, India. I always had viable “spiritual” reasons for declining that I could hide behind. Yet H. C. continued to press, and I am very glad he did.

Where are Christian radio and related forms of media going? Will traditional Bible-teaching programs survive as stations move toward more music and entertainment? And, more specifically, how can a local church use media to build a dynamic outreach beyond the walls of its worship center?

History remembers Robert Ketcham as a key leader, but a new book expands our understanding of the GARBC’s earliest days. One in Hope and Doctrine, released in June by Regular Baptist Press, starts with the story of a forgotten founder.

Our association has a significant opportunity before it. How we respond will determine if we position ourselves to take the road less traveled and capitalize on the opportunity, or take the easy road of the status quo and operate in maintenance mode.

MONTROSE, Pa.—When Pastor Bob Kadlecik came to Bridgewater Baptist Church in 2005, he had a dream. He says, “Before I die, I’d like to be part of a church that starts a new church or rescues a struggling church.”

A GARBC leader explains its position on the Baptist name. The GARBC has never specified exactly how a Baptist church should be named. While this fact of history may shock some, the GARBC Constitution has never required the use of Baptist in church names.

Today we are choosing between two alternatives: a limited message or a limited fellowship. If we preach all of the Bible truths, there are many places where we will never be invited. If we join hands with the crowd, there will be the limiting of the message of the Bible.

ROCHESTER, N.Y.—“I love the local church,” says Pastor David Whiting, pastor of Northridge Church and host for their 16:5 Conference. The two day-event hopes to help church leaders grow healthy churches.

The GARBC offers complimentary ministry consultation to help struggling pastors and churches. “The inevitability of life means we’re going to have ups and downs,” says John Greening, national representative of the GARBC. “When we’re up, we think we can go at it alone. But what we really need is to focus on the needs of others around us. And when we’re down, we need to ask for help. Within the brotherhood of an association of churches, we need to help each other.”

A makeshift cross stands on the rubble of what was Evangelical Baptist Church of LiLavois, Haiti. Chris Hindal, director of international ministries for the GARBC, traveled to Haiti in March to visit pastors and churches needing relief assistance.